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great businesses deserve great rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice. good afternoon. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. this hour you've probably noticed you're getting less greenbacks in your paychecks. coming up, could that get worse? plus, as the vice president prepares to present his recommendations on gun control, what will congress do? we'll ask a senior house democrat, and speaking of congress, have the gop on capitol hill become the party of no simply as a way to get in the way of the president's agenda? this morning, we're learning more about president obama's second-term agenda. immigration reform is at the top of his legislative to do list. white house officials tell the "new york times" mr. obama and senate democrats will propose the changes in one comprehensive bill resisting efforts by some

republicans to break the overhaul into smaller pieces. for more on these plans i want to bring in nbc's peter alexander what. are you hearing about the single swoop approach to passing immigration reform? >> that first as you noted was reported by the "new york times" this past week reporting to this big ambitious overhaul plan that would be one comprehensive package as opposed to splitting some of these issues up independently as some republicans have been pushing more, thinking it may be more digestible for their base back in their home districts. specifically when it comes to the issue of amnesty or legal status, that's been something heavily fought over. the president insists it's not amnesty. he said among the other elements that would exist in the proposals that are being considered right now, we're hearing from administration officials, are fines and back taxes for those. i think it's about 11 million undocumented workers, illegal immigrants presently living in the united states right now. the president acknowledged in his weekly radio address just

yesterday that this is one of the difficult missions facing this country right now, richard, and obviously will be when you consider the fact that the president, as he pursues this, as he's likely, to according to the "new york times," even addressing it in the state of the union address on february 12th, he'll be dealing with immigration, gun control. we know about the confirmation hearing issues and then the fiscal, the debt ceiling which is fast approaching as well. >> definitely that dance card is getting filled up pretty quickly so early in the year and he hasn't even been inaugurated. also in that article, senator marco rubio preparing his own version of the d.r.e.a.m. act. he discussed how republicans could face some pushback from latinos because of their stance on immigration reform. he said this, quote. we are going to have a struggle speaking to a whole segment of the population about our principles of limited government and free enterprise if they think we don't want them here, alluding to those who might benefit from the d.r.e.a.m. act. so republicans have their own pr

campaign to conduct with latinos on immigration reform, but how is the president going to combat republicans who want to see a more piece meal approach as we move forward here? >> reporter: i think we've seen the way the president has handled other recent challenges from his republican opposition when you consider just the fiscal cliff hanger as it were with campaign stops in various parts of the country. consider a statistic that i think a lot of americans are going to refocus on is the immigration conversation returns to the fore. it's the fact that the president won 70% of the hispanic vote in this past election. a dramatic -- dramatic element in his success and obviously the republican party recognizes it's harsh language, some rhetoric used by mitt romney and other republicans around the country didn't help its chance of gaining support within that community. john boehner, the speaker of the house, has said that they need to have a more practical, a more pragmatic approach to this issue, so i think in many ways the white house feels confidently that -- that it has

the lead on this issue right now and that it has the public on its side as well. >> all right. nbc's peter alexander with that latest development. thank you so much, peter. i want to bring in the political reporter for slate and msnbc contributor. dave, what do you think about this? it's called comprehensive immigration reform, so is this a surprise at all? >> oh, it's not a surprise. it was a promise that president obama made when he was elected the first time. >> right. >> the worry i think if you're an advocate for this is when you read stories about who might support this. you don't see many house republicans being quoted. great that marco rubio is on their side for a couple of pieces of this but senate republicans, as with the fiscal cliff deal, are going to be in the position of approving what can come through the house. >> right. >> you need to hear probably 20-odd republicans who are worried enough about the issue you just mentioned to vote for this, and that didn't happen in 2005, didn't happen in 2007 when they would need to make up the -- some opposition from democrats. that's what we need to hear.

we need to hear that this week possibly. >> and the timing didn't work out for president obama as he was pushing this forth in his new team. early january he might put this out in the first week of his new administration. is the iron so hot at this moment that he really does have to strike here and now? >> because there are republicans worried about the future of their party if they don't do something, because it surprised me frankly after this election you didn't hear what you've heard after a few republican losses that there wasn't anything wrong with the party per se. neath needed to message it better. on immigration it was just the voices calling for the -- calling for the preliminary opposition to any reform, much quieter than they have. we don't know if we're going to hear them bring it up again when the house comes back. a lot of people in the tea party movement, very influential in the base, very influential because the base agrees with them, weren't really loud on immigration, but back when we talked about 2007, people like steve king were at the forefront

of stopping this, and we're going to start hearing from them again. we'll see if there's enough republicans to overwhelm them. an immigration bill would be something like the fiscal cliff passing with mostly democratic votes in the house. how many times can john boehner do in a? >> how many times will john boehner allow that to happen? >> right. >> also, dave, we have something that maybe you noticed as well on friday, our paychecks, right. hopefully we got our paychecks, and americans are starting to feel that pinch from that payroll tax holiday going away, and the president had said, you know, earlier on during the fiscal cliff deal and as the negotiations were going on that taxes would not go up for americans. what happened then is what a lot of people are asking at the moment? >> there was just a strange agreement between the democrats and the republicans to hold hands and jump off the cliff on this issue that we didn't really see coming because no one talked about it. this was an idea that got approved in the 2010 deal, extended in 2011, and you just didn't hear many republicans

saying this -- calling this a -- a tax increase if they let it lapse. you didn't hear many democrats talking about it. i think the main reason that they -- they don't want fica taxes to get so low that people get used to paying an amount that can't fund the social security trust fund. it's odd because of all the things we discussed in the fiscal cliff. >> yeah. >> most of them wish use that might affect economic growth in the future. this was a tax that, according to most people rating it, was worth about 0.8 points of economic growth, and they -- no one talked about it. >> few were talking about it. they were just trying to get to a deal as you're saying there now, dave. now we're seeing this real impact on the paychecks, might there be political backlash from voters for the president or for republicans on this. i almost said the beauty. kind of using the word ironically. the beauty of this issue like this where neither party advocated for it. neither party thinks they can be blamed. >> hurt by it.

>> we know what republicans propose in various rounds of fiscal cliff negotiations, and they never proposed an extension to this. they could cynically say, look, and you hear some kind of republican pundits and talkers say this. they could say obama voters naively voted for this guy not realizing they were going to make him pay more money. democrats would respond by saying you didn't try to raise t.immigration, a lot of issues where you need more trust between democrats and republicans, there will be a lot of issues that both of them have to take a hair cut on. >> it's not going to start with this. >> let talk haircuts, and the big one coming up is the debt ceiling and is the white house taking on a harder stance now that doesn't have to worry about re-election. the president not worried about 2016. >> it's a harder stance, but it's a more mystifying stance, and they are trying to dodge as many questions as possible about what we won't negotiate on the debt limit means, you know, you so over the weekend, to the

surprise of a lot of people, treasury held off -- held off answering questions about the platinum coin idea which i probably don't need to summarize in total right now. they didn't really answer any questions. they just didn't have a response until over the weekend, basically the federal reserve made signals that it wasn't going to consider minting the coin and put it in the treasury and pay that for debt. they ruled now that solution, ruled out 14th amendment just saying that the president can continue raising the debt. so they are not saying how they are going to see the republican hostage-taking. >> dave weigel of "slate" magazine. thanks a lot. >> vice president joe biden set to give his policy recommendations as early as tuesday. joining me now is democratic congressman dave sicillini, thank you for being here with

us. >> vice president joe biden, he'll be making his recommendations on tuesday. what do you expect to hear from him. >> well, i hope it will include some of the proposals that are already before the congress to fix the background check system and create a universal system so that every sale of a gun includes a background check to be sure that we close the broken system and ensure that information about the mental health conditions, particularly those adjudicated, are in the system to close the gun show loophole and close the fire sale when a licensed gun dealer has a license revoked. we really can fix the system and ensure that those are disqualified from possessing a firearm, criminals, those that are seriously mentally ill, don't have access to firearms, and i think his recommendations can fix that system. there's legislation already propose that had we've introduced in the last congress and in this congress to address those issues, and it really does recognize people have a right to possess a firearm, but we all ought to agree people that are

convicted criminals or seriously mentally ill should not have access to firearms and let's fix the background check system and close these gaping loopholes that's allowing people access to guns that shouldn't have them. >> what is your thought about the process that the vice president has undertaken as he has gone throughout the weeks to come up to his recommendations on tuesday? >> i think it's been a great process, look. >> this requires leadership from the president and vice president which they are providing. they have brought together stakeholders who have an interest in this issue. listen to them carefully, going to put forth recommendations. we need to push them in the house and the senate. we need to have people all around this country who are raising their voices from demand to plan and mayors of illegal guns and to the brady center to combat violence, all working together. >> and the nra left the meeting saying this was not the process that we thought it was going to be. >> look, the nra has made it very clear that they are going to oppose all of these

proposals. i think the president and vice president were right to listen to them, to bring them into the conversation, but we have a responsibility to make sure we keep children and family safe in this country. that we pass common sense gun legislation. the vast majority of the members of the nra support common sense gun safety legislation, closing the gun show loophole, making sure there's a good background check system. >> the fire sale one, if you are a licensed gun dealer and your license is revoked before you've engaged in some misconduct, haven't done proper reporting, your license is evoked, your inventory is deemed a personal collection and they can sell it free from background checks at all. that's ridiculous. i mean, you're rewarding bad behavior so this would say you can't do that. >> congressman, might that or other issues on the table right now, from the president's task force, might you see that come forward as an executive order. that was also something that the

vice president said that they are considering those options there. >> i hope the president will use the power of his office to execute executive orders in a way that makes sense and we also have a responsibility in congress to -- >> the vice president some say riding high right now doing quite well after the fiscal cliff deal and very crucial to that negotiate process, and now that he's leading the gun control task force, it's a good place for him to be because he's hot right now, but on the flip side there are throws you remember in 1994 that there was a big part, a central part to the assault gun weapons ban back then, assault weapons ban. is he the right person to be leading this. >> i think so. he's doing a great job leading this. he has real credibility because of his work with the crime bill. someone who has a record of getting things done and been able to bring in people with different viewpoints on this issue and great relationships

and he's a great person to lead this effort. >> thank you for coming in today. appreciate it. >> after nearly two month in the hospital, the oldest living ex-president could be headed home early this week. an update on george h.w. bush's health, and more than a year after dropping out of the race for the white house, one tea party darling is still in the red. but first the victims of hurricane sandy are still eagerly awaiting a vote on capitol hill. could the pork in the bill derail the billions that they need? a senior member of the house joins us next. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics.

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and for our president, you walk down here and made promises to us. you shook our hand.

you talked to me face to face and said you're going to cut the red tape. where the heck is the red tape being cut? because i sure haven't seen it. my neighbors haven't seen it. my friends haven't seen it. we are still fighting. >> staten island residents demanding action two and a half months after getting pounded by hurricane sandy. a vote tops the agenda when the house convenes tomorrow. joining me is the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, thanks for being here. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> two votes, right, that are really going to be coming up. one on $17 billion for immediate sandy recovery needs, and then another 33 billion that 67 house republicans voted -- another 33 billion. now when we look back at the first round of relief earlier this month, 67 house republicans

voted against that. do you expect the same sort of numbers in terms of those who are against the 17 and the 33 billion come this week? >> well, we really don't know. i hope not, but, you know, the first piece that 67 voted against was the easiest piece. you would think nobody would vote against that. that was flood insurance. these other pieces are very, very important, and, you know, a lot of us were very angry at speaker bainer when he pulled the bill abruptly just before the end of the last congress because the senate had already passed it, and all we had to do was pass the senate version, and it would have gone into law. by not acting upon it we kicked it back and now we have to start all over again, pass something in the house and then hopefully the senate will pass it, and people cannot wait even another week or another day. you know, when hurricane katrina hit, within ten days the people in the gulf coast got aid. now in new york and new jersey

and pennsylvania, connecticut, it's been 70 days, and people still have not seen the relief that they need. it's disgraceful. >> we were just speaking with mayor johnson and he said we're paying for this using our credit card, and right now we are $10 million into this. we're looking at mayors, city councils who you talk with very often that are now digging deep into these credit lines to keep the progress going, get their residents up and moving. >> well, you know, there are arguments in washington about what the government should be, whether it's too big, too small, whatever it is, but i don't think anyone reasonably can say that government should not provide disaster relief to those parts of the country that have disasters. i've been in congress now for more than two decades, and whenever we had difficulty, whether it was katrina, whether it was hurricanes or tornadoes, we provided relief. if we're going to sit and have

an argument or a discussion about offsetting or not offsetting it and meanwhile these people are sitting without help, that's unconscionable, and the federal government, if there's one thing the federal government should be doing, it is providing aid to american citizens who are in desperate need. no one can deny that the need isn't there, and so i think that if we're talking about offsets or anything like that, that should be a discussion for another day. it should not hold up aid to people from sandy. >> like mayor johnson as we were talking about. >> absolutely. he's moving forward. he said i'm not going to stop to continue to help the residents of my city. you know, some of the objections to the existing bills that are out there have resulted in a republican-led bill, $17 billion is what house republicans would like to push forward. is that something you would support? >> well, i support the full 60 billion. that's what's needed. it's not padded. that's what's needed. if the 17 is the first or the

second down payment of the 60, i would support it as long as you pass the others very quickly as well. it can't be a thing where we pass 17 and then we wait a few months and then we pass again. if you have to rebuild and you have contracts that need to be let, you can't say to a contractor, well, i'll pay you for the first three months and we'll see if we can go get money from congress and come back. you've got to do the whole thing. it's not only, you know, restoring what happened, it's mitigation as well. we don't want to rebuild and then if another superstorm happens or another hurricane happens we have difficulty. we want to build stronger so we can expand. >> be ready for the next disaster. the critics to the existing solutions out there, the original on january 1st that did not reach the floor that you were alluding to earlier, it that it includes a lot of other disasters from before, recovery efforts related to previous disasters and that those should not be included for this because this is specifically for sandy.

what do you make of that criticism? >> well, that was in the senate bill, in the original bill. it wasn't in the house bill, and i think that that criticism is just delaying tactics, quite frankly. i'm not for pork for other projects. i'm for sandy relief, but to kind of use that as an excuse not to do sandy relief is unconscionable. people who are suffering in staten island and long island and the sound shore of my district, we don't want excuses anymore. there are fights in congress, legitimate fight. those fights have to happen, but it should not mix in with sandy aid. >> how real are those 67 votes that said no to the 9 billion? is it just a protest vote, or is there a real concern that you're seeing on the right for this bill? >> well, i don't know. i can't get into their heads, but i will tell you something. there are people there that took aid for their districts, you know, whether it's different parts of the country, whether it's the gulf coast or missouri or texas or -- or kansas. they took aid, and i voted for it, to help, when they had

natural disasters, and i think it's just shameless and unconscionable that they are voting no for sandy aid. i think, again -- >> quid pro quo. >> it's quid pro quo and we're all americans and we have to help each other, and i know there are fights going on in congress now, and those fights will be taken care of, but our people need help. people who have -- don't have roofs over their heads or cannot rebuild or businesses that are closing. they need help, and they need it now and it's unconscionable for anybody to need help. >> they were devastated, many parts of new jersey and new york still recovering from that. thank you so much, congressman engel. >> thank you. >> an unnerving number of americans have gotten a flu shot but first, is he or isn't he? a mystery surrounding george p. bush. we've got that for you. you're watching msnbc. ene.

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least. george prescott bush, soften former florida governor jeb bush, has decided to continue the bush political dynasty. while he settled on run, the question is for what. he has his eye on the position of texas land commissioner, but he'll wait until after texas governor rick perry decides his plans, just in case that spot opens up there. now let's head to the political playground for more. it seems that running for office comes with some strings attached, like paying your former staffers. congresswoman and former presidential candidate michele bachmann has refused to pay five of her presidential campaign staffers more than a year after she dropped out of that race. insiders saying she has refused to bay the $5,000 to her former staffers unless they agree to sign a non-disclosure agreement. the wisconsin assembly has some new rules. not only are they installing time clocks to cut down on overnight debates, but members of the public will not be allowed to bring certain things into the gallery anymore. apparently no more bags or briefcases will be allowed, but they can have concealed guns and

other weapons if they have a permit. speaking of guns. lieutenant governor pete kinder of missouri who is likely to see congresswoman joanne emerson's seat is definitely showing he's pro gun. in regards to assault weapons he had this to say, quote. it's a misused term used by suburban soccer moms who do not understand what is being discussed here. that should go over well with female voters. how much of a player will the former gop vice presidential nominee be in the republican party going forward? we will look at that, and being obstructionist for the hell of it. ari melber joins us with his take on the republican battle plan to deal with president obama. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. [ coughs ] shh! [ coughs ] shh!

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[ male announcer ] over a third of a day's fiber. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. nbc news lass learned that former president george h.w.

bush could be headed home from a houston hospital sometime early this week. the 88-year-old has been hospitalized since late november for bronchitis and persistent fever. he spent some of that time in the intensive care unit as well. the former president spokesman says his team is taking everything one day at a time but perhaps some good news for everybody there. i'm richard lui, a look at some of the stories making news. only 36.5% of all americans have received a flu shot as of november 2012. policy researchers at the rand corporation say many adults opted against the shot because employers do not require workers to get it, unlike schools that generally require it for the children that attend their schools. drivers can expect to feel a bit of a pinch in their wallets at the pump. gas prices rose for the first time since october, up about seven cents. that's about 3.32 for regular. officials in newtown, connecticut are holding the first of two public hearings on what to do with sandy hook elementary school.

the site where a gunman killed 20 students and 6 teachers. some say it should be knocked down and replaced with a public memorial. obstruction became a buzzword during president obama's first term and with the new congress set to return tomorrow, are plans already in place for obstruction 2.0 once president obama is sworn in next week? msnbc contributor ari melber has an interesting take on that and joins us right now. want to hear it. >> as you said, a week from tomorrow, president obama will deliver that inaugural address, a time to outline a governing philosophy that will guide the next term but this is a little different. obama faces a gop opposition that's not only opposed to the his governing philosophy, many republicans are increasingly opposed to governing itself. take a look at the republican actions just recently since obama was re-elected. they pushed the economy to the edge of the fiscal cliff and they threatened to make the u.s. go into default or shut down the government if they don't get policy concessions. they fiercely oppose potential

picks for obama's cabinet from susan rice, of course, to people who withdrew to people who had strong gop support up until they were affiliated with president obama like chuck hagel and jack lew and republicans delayed 85% of the planned relief funding for hurricane sandy. that, of course, drew a strong rebuke from republican governor chris christie. this is not politics devoted to a competing vision. this is politics devoted to digs corruption and obstruction, and those recent fights i mentioned don't even include the explosion of minority obstruction in the u.s. senate. the filibuster has been used against more of obama's legislation than any president in history. the bottom line is that the gop is exploiting what i think is a hole in our democracy. can you lose elections and still get your way now if you don't care about responsibly governing. of course, it's hard to get voters to notice this kind of thing, but i believe obama has a big opportunity at the inauguration. he can call for more than just broad patriotism or vague unity.

he can call out the amorality of a political party that would rather threaten man made crises than actually gonchings avern, advocate for cooperation. i think it's worth a try >> the majority of republicans in the republican party, are they for this obstructionism that you're describing, or as we have discussed so many different times it really comes down to five or six dozen that are causing all of the issues here in. >> that's a great question, and i think the answer, especially to be fair to the entire republican caucus and we don't know and maybe not. in the senate because of the rules they can be used or abused by very few senators to shut down debate and in the house which is an institution that runs on whatever the speaker decides, we won't hear about how many republicans want to work more collaboratively if the speaker continues to look for majority of the majority rules and look for the kind of process

that basically doesn't deal with the president, i don't think, in good faith. >> i want to bring in the rest of our members of our brain trust today with nia-malika henderson and ari welch. let's get your take on what ari was just talking about. how is the president playing his part in obstructionism as you look at what he's done so far? is he playing it the right way? >> i think how we've seen the president going into the second term looking for legacy, for one, and i think a legacy will have to be built around bipartisanship, and you saw in the last debate around the fiscal cliff he got bipartisanship first in the senate, breaking the hastert rule in the house. boehner had a minority of the majority and that passed in the house as well, so i think the republican party is obviously doing some soul searching now. the philosophy of obstructionism got them to where they are now which is losing in 2012, which is a very low rating.

i think among most folks out there seeing this as a party that likes to say no too much, not as the party of ideas which was the whole reagan idea of what the republican party should stand for. you'll have republicans more soul searching. retreats will happen in the coming days, but i think obama is going to call for, when he has this inaugural address, is going to call for a new era of responsibility, and i think republicans will have to decide what that looks like for their party. >> matt, this new era, this rethinking, when it comes to the president as well as democrats, since they do come into 2003, riding a wave, if you will, of success, the president winning with a very large margin, should he take advantage of this and play harder ball? some say that he's already starting to do that from the intimations of what the debt ceiling negotiation will be like? >> well, i think we see already with the chuck hagel nomination, which a lot of democrats don't like, i see that as a way that obama is actually trying to

shove a wedge into the many divides that we see right now in the gop. the gop is saying no in part because that's the system of our governance. it's not a hole in our democracy, it's a design, that we're restraining those who want to use government to its maximum capability. however, saying no isn't necessarily popular and you need to say yes to something. republicans are legitimately divided amongst themselves about what they want to say yes to, so when you nominate someone like hagel, you let republicans fight each other about republican issues, so i think that's how you're going to see the president do it. that said, you can't run the entire country without the house of representatives, so obama is going to have to make compromises. >> ari, i want to move to you on this. you really sort of discussing hopefully a move towards pragmatism, towards the middle, remembering of that collaboration that we did see some bits of towards the end of

the fiscal cliff negotiations, but are you losing the good ones, the ones that might work towards this compromise long term, those who are moving away from whatever edge they are on towards the middle? one example, looking forward 2014, jay rockefeller saying he will not run again. that might be an example. politico points out this. rockefeller's retirement means it's an opportunity for republicans to pick up a seat meaning it's a rough year for senate democrats overall. what's your thought about this? >> well, there's no doubt that politically rockefeller had above average democratic support in a state that is very favorable to republicans so it's very tough on republicans to do what he did, but to bipartisanship and what neil said, i think the president has to convince the public that bipartisanship is more than getting a few people from both parties in the final vote. we need to talk about a bipartisan process, right? that goes to the points i was making and the disagreement i have with matt. he's right that the constitution does provide for my fortarian

values and processes within the way that the congress works. but we have to look at the broader evolution here, because the numbers show, i think everyone agrees, more legislation held up to a super majority vote than ever before at any other time in history. it's not automatic that that's the way it is. it's that way now and may not be that way forever. the public is going to increasingly look particularly with the economic dysfunction with whether they think that kind of obstruction is good. my argument is it's not. >> who might lead that process and the change of that process? we'll discuss that with our brain trust. stay right here. more on how the gop plans are going forward to regroup after a quick break. [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking.

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all right. as we look forward to 2014 and 2016, the question has been made what will the republicans do to

remake their party? the pros esof bipartisanship, what can be done to get there? our brain trust still with us. ari melber and nia-malika henderson and matt welsh. we left off by asking who might be the brain trust, if you will, that will push for the a new collaborative process in washington, d.c. which was what ari's essay was about. who might that be? >> you know, that is a very, very hard question. because, you know, as much as, you know, you have different leaders, you have boehner. you obviously have obama and you have harry reid. in the senate at some point it becomes every man for himself. people looking at the 2014 elections. there are, i believe, 20 democrats that are going to be up for re-election in the senate and 13 i think republicans. at some point people are playing to whatever their states are, to whatever their different counties are, so i think it's very hard to figure out one person who is going to be sort

of the clarion voice of bipartisanship. i think we've seen in the different parties a move toward the south in terms of republicans, fewer northeastern republicans, fewer moderate republicans, so that's a real issue so i am sort of at a loss to think about people who will some forward and sort of lead the charge for bipartisanshipship. maybe people like joe biden who seems to be everybody's favorite democrat these days. >> nia, we were hoping you would give us that clear choice of who will lead the process forward. who do you think might lead that process that ari is talking about, the idea of more olimpia snowes perhaps? >> well, i mean, you have to keep in mind that the republican party is in year four or five now of a battle for its soul, and there are definite different competing visions out there led by different are personalities who have different comportments and some will cooperate with democrats. marco rubio will cooperate with democrats and rand paul

cooperating on some national defense issues, cutting military spending, some spying issues that we care about. you'll see paul ryan making a big show out of not cooperating with democrats but always voting yes as he did for the fiscal cliff deal and as he has in many times previous so it's going to be opportunistic between them, but they haven't sorted it out, this civil war between themselves and so it makes it very difficult for a single figure to rally under the republican mantle. >> ari, to you, to whatever matt is saying and add to whatever you would like to to the conversation here. we saw tea partiers rebel back in 2010 because they did not see the fiscal conservatism that they believe that the republican party should -- should have in its platform. might you see those centrists, those moderate republicans saying, hey, we're going to lead the republican party and start our own, if you will, subgroup because right now the republican party doesn't represent what we want it to be. >> i don't see that kind of

splintering, but i would echo things like rubio and potentially even ted cruz bring a different kind of strength to potential compromise. they both have some strong relationships with the tea party, but they also have some issues that they come to and say we can do this, and that's really the question. can you compromise from a position of strength rather than weakness? there's no doubt that both parties have issues in this current climate where any kind of work across the aisle is seen as disloyal. on the democratic side i would point to senator ron widen who has clearly reached across the aisle on entitlement and spending and who is an organize senator strong on a lot of issues, including civil liberties and health care who is not seen by any kind of democrat a sellout. >> we've talked about the process. talked about who someone might be. let's talk about the language

that people might use and what was written in an article titled why republicans should watch bipartisanship. using tax code and immigration reform and this is what he said, the gop paid a price for its out-of-touch language in november and could pay again in 2014, just as it did in 2006 unless the party changes course. congressional republicans must reintroduce themselves to the american people. america is listening, and they want a republican party that listens to them, too. that's what was said here, so what's your thought here, nia? is it enough for republicans to watch their language, and if so what do they need to say or do? >> that's right, and in some ways the most eloquent person to talk about this at least today was colin powell when he talked about the issue of race and gop and what he saw as some of the enflamed code words that gop

folks had been using in talking about president obama that might land differently with african-americans than they do with the general public, so it is i think a question about framing, but i also think it's got to be about specificity. the gop, for instance, now talking about spending cuts. are they prepared to say the "m" word? are they prepared to talk about medicare and are they prepared to talk about social security? so in some ways they are dancing around and being vague about entitlement and spending cuts but have been really loathe to get down to specifics. >> nia, there you go. you had a name there, colin powell. maybe that's the person you'll add to the list. >> stay with us. don't go anyway, ari, nia and matt. still ahead, how will the united states react to vice president joe biden's gun safety recommendations that will be coming out we expect on tuesday. we'll pick it up there when we come back. the place for politics, msnbc. . spending the day with my niece. i don't use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between

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i'm going to be submitting to the president my proposal as to how to proceed.

i'm shooting for tuesday. i hope i get it done by then. we get it done by then. >> there you heard it. the vice president hoping to get it done for tuesday. let bring back the panel. our brain trust and their prediction for the day after if he does come out with his recommendations on tuesday and let's start with matt welsh who rejoins us. matt, what's your thought. what's going to be the headline on wednesday after the recommendations come out from the vice president? what's the headline for "reason" magazine? >> biden cracks down on symbolic weaponry. it's a very uncomforter comfortable and not very pleasant thing to grapple with, but a lot of the types of initiatives being discussed right now and that always happen in the wake of shootings are measures that actually wouldn't have affected the shooting in question. that's what we're going to see again in this new package. >> nia, your thought and what's your headline in the "washington post" about that and react to what matt said? >> i think it's going to be gun

task force suggests far-reaching support for gun control. i think they will try to go big and bold in this. you saw progressives a little upset with what came out with the fiscal cliff deal. this is a president very moved by what happened by sandy hook, as was the rest of the nation, so i think it's going to be very prod in terms of looking at mental health, looking at an assault weapons ban and looking at magazine clips and also some of the loopholes as well, so i think this is going to be big. i think, you know, you have to see down the line if the politicians are in place in the house specifically to get any of this stuff done, but i do think there is some consensus amongst some politicians cross party, cross nra, some of the membership there with some of the things that might come out of this commission's report. >> yeah. that if, underline it and capitalize those two letters if they do have the right amount of support for that bill or any recommendation that comes out. ari to you finally then. what's the headline that's going

to be in the nation? >> well, would i say the truth is not that exciting. it's a long road ahead on the response to the shootings, and wherever you come down on how it should be handled, i don't think we'll see all the solutions in the next few months. i think you have to talk about rewiring some of the debates for several years in this country. >> all right. thank you so much. appreciate it. our brain trust on this sunday. had a lot to talk about. our panel ari melner, nia-malika henderson and matt welsh, you guys have a very good sunday and thanks for stopping by. >> thank you. >> that's our show for today. l.a. mayor antonio villaraigosa is our guest as is patrick kennedy who is leading an effort against the legalization of marijuana. until then, keep it here for the latest updates and meanwhile have a great sunday for the rest of the weekend. right here on msnbc, the place for politics. [ snoring ]

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